SEC moving to nine league games bumps back Kentucky vs. Kent State to 2030

Once the Southeastern Conference announced Thursday that it would require each of its member teams to play nine league games every year, we knew a schedule change was coming for the Kentucky Wildcats.

And now we know which game took the hit.

We learned last week that Kentucky football had added Kent State to the program’s 2026 schedule, joining Youngstown State, South Alabama, and Louisville as the Wildcats’ four non-conference foes. The SEC’s new rule change stipulates that each team must still play a high-quality Power 4 conference opponent, meaning one of Kent State, Youngstown State, and South Alabama would get the boot.

According to FBSchedules.com, that team ended up being Kent State.

Kentucky was scheduled to host the Golden Flashes on Sept. 12, 2026, in Lexington. However, in the contract signed by both schools, FBSchedules noted there is a clause stating this particular game would get pushed to 2030 in the event the SEC moved to a nine-game league schedule. UK was set to pay Kent State $1.6 million for the game in 2026, which will be bumped up to $1.8 million with the game moving to 2030.

Nine-game schedule triggers clause in 2026 Kentucky football contracthttps://t.co/ZW59vv350A

— FBSchedules.com (@FBSchedules) August 22, 2025

With the Kent State game off the 2026 schedule, Kentucky is now slated to take on Youngstown State (Sept. 5), South Alabama (Sept. 26), and Louisville (Nov. 28) as the non-conference foes in 2026. What will the new SEC schedule look like for the Wildcats? KSR’s Adam Luckett dove deep into the weeds on Thursday to give his projections.

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